A Recipe for Legends
by EE's Skysong
Summary: AU. Three unlikely travelers a noble, a demon, and a halfwolf get lost in a forest, and meet an amnesiac elf with an interesting secret. Things get even more interesting when they meet a witch and her servant and a band of rebels... Romy, Kurtty, Jonda
1. The Main Ingredients

Disclaimer: "The butt-kickin's over and it's almost midnight! Time for doughnuts!"

(An: As you can tell, it took me a while to figure out which story to start next...Special stuff: No accents will be codified. Remy's eyes are brown because this is an AU and because of what I want to mess with later on. Italics are thoughts and bold is emphasis. That's pretty much it.)

The three travelers looked like they had nothing in common.

To a casual observer it would seem as though there were only two travelers. One was a young woman, her hair tied back, wearing a plain cotton dress, with large blue eyes. Her steps were delicate and she seemed to ooze nobility. The second was a man. He was very alert, looking in every direction with his brown eyes and constantly redirecting the girl.

The reason the third traveler was so hard to spot was because he was hiding in the trees. His dark blue fur allowed him to be almost invisible in the shady canopy, and his long tail allowed him to swing from tree to tree with ease. He was wearing a small necklace and had hoops in both pointy ears.

Katheryn Pryde pulled her skirt from a bush. "And just **why** did we leave the road again?" she asked.

"I told you," said Remy LeBeau (the guy), "those wagons were bad news. Do you **want** to have us discovered right away?"

The third traveler hung upside down from his tail (his name was Kurt). "Where are we?"

Remy glared at them, and pulled out a map. He stabbed a spot on it. "Right there," he said. "See? I know exactly where we are. Now come on, it's this way back to the road." He led them off.

A FEW HOURS LATER...

Remy stopped short, sniffing the air. "What in the-" He was cut off by the elf that landed on his head. Remy fell over, the elf clinging to his back.

"This is sacred ground!" she cried.

"_Quoi?_" asked Remy, blinking and trying to stand up.

The elf pressed a small knife to his throat. "What are you doing here?"

"Is this how all elves say hello?" he asked, trying to wiggle out of her grip.

"This is..." she began, and then tipped over, dragging Remy down again.

Remy stood up, brushing himself off. "Ok. What was that?"

Kurt climbed down from his tree, approaching them. "Is it dead?" he asked, joining Remy in bending over the elf.

"It's not an it," said Remy, brushing the hair from the elf's face to prove his point, "it's a her. And it's an elf. We're in trouble." He sniffed the air. "...And we're lost."

"I knew it!" cried Katheryn.

"Oh, be quiet, Kitty," said Remy, investigating the elf. He then noticed her problem. "Poison arrow," he said, pulling a small barb from her arm.

"It's 'your highness' to you," said Kurt, glaring at Remy.

"Not yet," replied Remy.

"So what do we do now?" asked Kitty, trying to change the subject.

Remy sniffed the air again. "Just keep walking, I guess. We'll have to come to somewhere familiar... eventually." He carefully picked up the elf.

"What do we do about her?" asked Kitty, giving the elf a curious look. "Can't we just leave her behind?"

"No," said Remy. "Think about it. This is the elves' forest. She'll die without help, and I know how to help her. If we leave her behind to die, **we're** as good as dead."

"I wonder what she was going on about," said Kurt as he scaled a tree.

NIGHT...

Remy fidgeted. "_Mon Dieu,_" he muttered. "I hate this forest." He looked up for an opening in the canopy, trying to see the moon, but found none.

"Would you calm down?" asked Kitty, gazing into the fire.

"No," said Remy. "What's the point of it almost being a full moon if you can't see it?" He bent down by the elf. She was wrapped up and shivering. "That stuff ready yet?"

Kitty stirred the liquid in the pot over the fire. "Um..."

Remy rolled his eyes. "Why do I even bother asking?" he said, looking at the pot himself.

"You should be more respectful," said Kurt with a lazy stretch.

"I'm the guide," replied Remy, adding something to the pot from one of his many pockets. "I don't have to be respectful." He stirred it. "This'll be ready in the morning."

He then went back to watching the elf. She had a petite build, with dark brown hair that had curious white stripes in the front. Her dress was plain, dark green that was the very color of the forest, and the only thing she wore as jewelery (unusual for the gem-loving elves) was a plain gold chain necklace with a blue moon pendant.

"It's kind of strange to run across a lone elf, isn't it?" said Kitty. "I thought they traveled in groups."

"They do," said Remy. "I don't trust this forest at all."

"And we're lost in it," said Kurt. "We have a real problem, don't we?"

"And you just figured that out now," said Remy, shaking his head.

(And that's that... Click onward for the second chappy.)


	2. Add One Part Amnesia

Disclaimer: "You do not wish to enjoy the nuts of dough? They are like eating sweet tiny wheels!"

(An: And the second chappy. Yay.)

THE NEXT MORNING...

Remy had given the antidote to the elf earlier that morning. Now he was trying to figure out their position while Kurt made breakfast and Kitty kept an eye on the elf.

He was investigating a bush. "You're burning the bacon!" he informed Kurt as he checked the shape of the leaves. He then looked at the surrounding trees. They were all the same species, one which he'd never seen. He sat back down by the camp, frowning. "I have no idea where we are."

"What about the map?" asked Kurt, passing him some food.

"We're off the map," said Remy. "You burned it."

"I'm aware of that," said Kurt, looking miffed.

"So now what?" said Kitty. "We're lost, we've got a sick elf to take care of, and we've only got... how many days is it now?" She looked over at Remy.

"I don't know," said Remy. "I can't tell what phase the moon's in. But I think we have maybe six days at most. And I've never said so many variations on 'I don't know' since I started traveling with you two."

"We're doomed," said Kitty, putting her head in her hands.

"Oh come on, _Katzchen,_ it's not that bad," said Kurt, edging a little closer to her.

"Sit!" said Kitty, glaring at him.

Kurt was slammed down onto the ground, the necklace glowing. "Must you keep doing that?" he asked, struggling to get up.

"If you must keep getting so close to me," replied Kitty, glaring at him.

"Then both of you will forever be at a stalemate," said Remy, looking as though he was enjoying this.

"You shut up!" said both of them in unison.

Remy hid a smirk with his hand. "And as for what we do now, we wait. We can't move the elf until she wakes up. And she might be able to tell us where we are."

"Well, all right then," said Kurt, leaning back against a tree.

A FEW HOURS LATER...

Kitty and Kurt were asleep when the elf woke up.

Remy was keeping watch when she stirred.

She rolled over towards the remains of the fire, opening large green eyes. She sat up, the crescent gem at her throat glinting.

Remy turned to face her.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice soft as she looked around.

"My name's Remy," he said. "What's yours?"

The elf blinked, confused, and put a hand to her head. "I... I don't know..."

"Well, that's a new one," Remy murmured, stirring the fire. Sparks flared up from it. The elf watched, transfixed.

"What is this place?" she asked, sitting up and hugging her knees.

"I'd think you'd know better than we would," said Remy, glancing at her. The elf gazed back, her green eyes unreadable. "We're in the royal forest, way off the path. We're quite lost, in fact."

"Oh," said the elf. She stared at him for a second longer, then looked around again. "Who're the other two?"

"The blue one's Kurt and the girl's Katheryn Pryde."

She nodded but said no more.

"Not much of a talker, eh, _chere_?"

"I just woke up, my head hurts like I banged it against a boulder, and I don't remember a thing before this conversation. What do you expect, the latest gossip?"

"Oh, _petite's_ got spirit!"

"If this is the company I get, I'm going back to sleep," said the elf and did so.

"Interesting girl," Remy murmured.

THE NEXT MORNING...

The elf was up before all of them, sitting atop her pallet and staring at the trees, through which a little light filtered.

Remy woke up next and seemed extremely fidgety.

Kitty and Kurt, as usual, woke up within moments of each other. Kitty yawned and looked over at the elf. "Oh, hello."

The elf didn't reply, just kept looking up at the treetops.

"Not much of a talker, I take it," Kurt said, also awake now.

"That's what he said," the elf commented, looking over at Remy. He was still fidgeting. "What is your **problem**, anyway?"

Remy glared at the sunlight through the trees. "Doesn't **any**one realize that it's the full moon tonight?" he asked, getting up and beginning to pace.

"Which means...?"

Remy didn't answer, seeming lost in his brooding.

The elf looked over at the other two. They both looked distinctly uncomfortable. "It's a long story," Kurt said, shifting his eyes.

"It's his business," Kitty added.

"Damn right it's my business," Remy muttered, squinting at the trees again.

"Do you remember anything?" Kitty asked of the elf, obviously wishing to change the subject.

The elf shook her head. "Not one."

"Not even your name?"

Another annoyed head-shake from the elf. "I thought we established that. If you insist on calling me something, call me Rogue."

"It was the combination," said Remy abruptly. "The poison and the antidote mixed into an elf's metabolism would mess anybody up. Can we get going now?"

"Where?" Kitty asked.

"If we walk long enough in one direction," Remy said, sounding impatient, "we'll eventually come to the edge of the forest. We may not be where we want to be, but at least we won't be stuck in **here** anymore."

"What's the matter with the forest?" Rogue snapped, glaring at him.

Remy returned the glare just as intensely. "I would like to get out. It's cramped. You can't see the sky." He started walking.

Kitty and Kurt shrugged at each other and followed, Rogue trailing behind. When they glanced at her, she pointed out, "I don't really have anywhere else to go." That seemed to satisfy them and they walked in silence, following the still moody Remy.

(-rubs hands together- There. Review, even if it's just to complain about unnecessary confusing-ness.)


	3. And an Annoying Backstory

Disclaimer: "What, you mean the elevator that makes a ding like a microwave announcing we're inside, ready to eat?"

(An: Sorry this took so long... I had to go back and redo Kitty and Kurt's backstory. Several times. -sheepish grin- The demon thing IS nicked from Inu and it'll be explained in this chappy. Rogue is NOT a midget. Think LOTR. Remy is a half-wolf, i.e. he gets, like, PMS-y at the full moon. No transformations... think Tenth Kingdom.)

LATER THAT NIGHT...

The group was picking their way in a line (except for Kurt, because he, as usual, was climbing a tree), through a particularly narrow part of the forest. They were trying to find a place to stop, because it was common knowledge that traveling through the forest at night was a very bad idea.

Rogue was staring at Remy's back (he was leading, which was also normal) and frowning.

"He's not usually like this, you know," said Kurt.

Rogue jumped. "Do you **always** sneak up on people like that?" she demanded, whirling to face him.

"I didn't sneak up on you," Kurt replied, overly innocent. "I just make it a point to be very hard to see."

"Good for you." She glanced over at Remy again. "**Now** would you do me the courtesy of explaining him?"

Rogue hadn't counted on Remy's much-better-than-usual hearing."It's. My. Business. Three simple words."

"And I. Would. Like. To. Know."

Remy stopped, very abruptly (almost causing Kitty to trip), and spun to face Rogue. "_D'accord_."

"Just like that?" Kitty (who was more than a little annoyed with Remy) demanded.

"She deserves to know."

"Yeah, but you didn't think **we** deserved to know until you almost got burned at the stake," Kurt pointed out.

The look on Remy's face suggested he didn't think that was at all relevant or something Rogue needed to know about. He turned his attention back to the elf. "You want to know what I am? _D'accord_." He leaned in close, so their faces were almost touching. "I'm a half-wolf. Do you know what cycle of the moon it is? Because I do. And I hope that answers your question," he finished. He lingered a moment longer, staring at her intensely, before spinning and resuming his position at the front.

Kitty, who was still getting herself in order, fixed him with an evil glare.

Rogue eyed him skeptically. "So what does that make you?" she inquired of Kurt as he started to scale a tree. "A half-rat?"

Kurt grinned savagely at her, revealing sharp teeth. "Half-demon, actually."

"And let me guess," Rogue said to Kitty, hands on her hips. "You're half-dwarf... Or whole dwarf, for that matter."

Kitty stood up straighter, trying desperately to look taller.

"May I present," said Remy, with a mocking bow, "the Lady Katheryne Pryde, mage-in-training and current heiress to the throne."

Kitty kicked him. "Jerk."

"Ow!"

"Ok, so wait-" said Rogue, holding up her hands. "You're a wolf, he's a demon, and she's a princess."

The other three exchanged glances and chorused, "Yes!"

"I only have one question: how the hell did you guys meet?"

"You tell her," said Remy. He nudged Kurt, suddenly moody again. He got up and walked off a distance, staring up at the canopy and desperately trying to find a gap.

Kurt blinked. "Why me?"

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine, I'll tell it." She gazed into the fire, flicking a few strands of stray hair over her shoulder. "It started when I met Kurt... I think. That's the best spot to start, since it's the least confusing.

"I was sitting in a cafe, minding my own business, when I saw a mob. Me being me, I felt the need to go check it out. Biiig mistake.

"So, there was the mob, right? Torches, pitchforks, ugly people, you know the type. I watched for a moment, and then I spotted the target." She pointed at Kurt. "Imagine him, beat up, bloody, and having a torch waved in his face. **Clearly** scared witless and backed up against a wall. I **had** to do something. So naturally I yelled, 'Stop!'"

"Only it was a lot louder than that," Kurt interjected.

Kitty shot him a "look." "Then everyone was staring at me- a greenstick noble with barely two generations of the Blood running through my veins. I asked what was going on..."

&&&

After a moment, a guy who was carrying a torch **and** a pitchfork was shoved forward. "W-we are ridding ourselves of the demon that's plagued our town!"

The "demon", something blue and furry that seemed to be human looked up at Kitty, obviously scared and hurt. Kitty blinked suddenly. "He's just a kid!" she cried. "He's barely any older than me!"

The "demon" nodded, slipping through the crowd over to her. He had ben walking on all fours but then he stood up. "Um, in case you haven't noticed," he said quietly, holding up one of his cut hands, "I bleed. There's a chupacabra behind the butchershop that won't, I assure you."

"That's no proof!" cried most of the crowd. They moved in closer.

"This is none of your business, lady," said torch-and-pitchfork guy.

Kitty reached over and cut her palm on the man's pitchfork, then grabbed the "demon's" hand. There was a flash of light and matching necklaces appeared around their necks. "It is now," said Kitty, glaring at the man and daring anyone else to comment. She turned to the "demon", who was gazing at her with wide, incredulous amber eyes. "What's your name?" she asked him, quieter and kinder.

"Kurt," he stammered, blinking.

"Come on, then," said Kitty. She shot the crowd one last look, then headed back to the cafe.

&&&

"Damn me and my kind heart," said Kitty, shaking her head.

Rogue raised one eyebrow.

"I never would've done it if I'd known what he was like. Bonding with a demon I'd never met!"

Kurt sighed and stared into the fire

"But I thought you didn't think he was a demon," said Rogue, cocking her head.

"Same process goes for bonding a mage to her servant," said Kitty with a shrug and a stretch.

Rogue nodded and made a go-on gesture.

"Anyway, so the mob backed off after that... so I thought..."

&&&

"You look hungry," Kitty commented as soon as the last of the mob had turned tail.

"Milady, you read my mind."

"It's **Kitty**. My **mom's** the 'milady' in my family."

Kurt grinned. "Ok. That works."

&&&

That was when Kitty shut up, glaring into the fire.

Rogue cleared her throat.

Kurt shot Kitty a sympathetic glance. "This part is a little, uh, touchy."

"Damn straight," Kitty muttered, pulling her knees up to her chest.

Kurt sighed and overtook the tale. "We were sitting in a cafe, eating, and then I looked up and saw the smoke..."

&&&

Kitty followed Kurt's eyes and gasped. "That's where my family is staying!" She sprung up and grabbed his hand. Kurt let out a little gasp of his own.

"Wait," he said.

"**What**?" Kitty demanded, frantic.

"I can get us there faster, but it's a little disconcerting," he explained. He tightened his grip on her hand. There was an explosion of black smoke and brimstone and both disappeared.

Kitty stumbled as they appeared in front of the inn. Kurt steadied her. "What did you do?" she asked him, seeming curious instead of horrified.

Kurt shrugged. "I've been able to do it since I was a kid."

Kitty let out a little shriek as she saw that most of the inn was in flames. "My parents-" she whispered. She grabbed his hand again. "Come on!"

She ran inside, dragging Kurt along behind her.

&&&

"You guys **are** crazy," Rogue said, sounding awed.

Kurt shook his head. "This isn't the crazy part. We haven't gotten to **him** yet." He pointed at Remy, who bared one incisor in a sneer.

"Get on with it," said Kitty.

Kurt nodded. "So we ran inside the building. Pretty much the entire left half was in flames- people were running everywhere, it was insane! Kitty dragged me in the direction of her family's rooms..."

&&&

There was a sudden flare of flame. "They're in those rooms!" Kitty shrieked, hearing screams. "My parents!" She looked at him. "Kurt, Kurt, help these people get out. I have an idea." She started muttering something under her breath.

Kurt glanced at her, uncertain, but Kitty shot him back such a fierce look that he started rounding up the disoriented tenants immediately.

Satisfied with her spell work, Kitty promptly ran through one of the burning walls.

&&&

Rogue raised one eyebrow.

Kitty raised a stick, muttered something, and passed her hand through it a few times.

"Wow," said Rogue, impressed.

"Just finish it, ok?" said Kitty, in a quiet tone she rarely used.

Kurt nodded. "Ok, ok, I'd gotten all of the people out of the lobby, the fire was blazing hotter than ever, and Kitty wasn't coming out..."

&&&

Kurt looked around, desperate. Guardian angels, which Kitty most certainly was one of, didn't die- but guardian angels didn't take care of bastard half-breeds like him, either.

Kurt ripped off a part of his cloak, whispered a spell to wet it, and covered his mouth and nose, running into the flames. He looked around, spotting nobody, and of course, had to run further into a burning building. _Yeah, let's bang our head against a brick wall a little longer, go into the damn room!_ Kurt ran into what appeared to be the center of the blaze. "Kitty!" he yelled.

He heard something fall over nearby, and looked around. Kitty was digging through the rubble. Kurt ran up to her, grabbed her arm, and teleported.

Kitty groped around, blinking and disoriented. She fell down, looking at her sooty hands and the edge of her singed dress. "My parents..." she whispered, pressing her heands against her face.

"Kitty..." said Kurt, kneeling down by her.

"I've only known you, what, twenty minutes, and already you're the only family I have in the world," said Kitty through her hands. "I don't have any other relatives."

Kurt noticed a shimmering mark on the back of her right hand. "Kitty, purely out of curiousity, how was your family noble?"

"My grandfather was the son of someone in the palace... they gave him a title to keep him quiet," Kitty explained, wiping her eyes. "The fire was set. Somebody wanted to keep **us** quiet."

&&&

"After that, Kitty and I shipped out of the town, to look for a guide," said Kurt. "Kitty wanted to get to the palace."

"Before then I never wanted my heritage," said Kitty, staring at the backs of her hands and making the mark appear and disappear in the light. "Now it's all I've got. The regent will have to let me- I've got the royal mark."

"Should I tell it, now, since you all are obviously 'funned out'?" Remy suggested.

"Only if you promise to stop biting our heads off if we interrupt you," Kurt replied.

"Can't blame him for being snippy during his version of the monthlies," said Kitty. Kurt and Rogue cracked up and Remy let out something close to a growl.

"I'm getting paid, I'm getting paid, it's not near enough for this but I'm getting **paid**, dammit," Remy muttered.

"Just get on with the story, wolf boy," said Rogue.

Remy gave her the evil eye before continuing. "When the _femme_ walked into my office, I thought I'd never seen anyone more obviously noble in my life..."

&&&

"Can we help you with something?" John-Luc LeBeau asked, raising his eyebrows at the young woman in front of him.

"I need a guide," she responded, fiddling with the right sleeve of her dress. "I want to get to the palace."

"You'd have to go through the royal forest," Jean-Luc pointed out. "Sure you want to risk it, Miss..."

"Katheryn, Lady Katheryn Pryde."

"It'd be more expensive than my usual services, Miss Pryde. Personal risk, you see."

"Money isn't a problem." Kitty pulled out a small bag of gold. "Will this do?"

"Perfectly," Jean-Luc agreed, weighing the bag expertly in one hand. "Just let me get my son."

Jean-Luc got up and walked out, to where Henri and Remy were lounging in the other room. "Remy. You're to be taking Miss Pryde," he thumbed back at the other room, "and her servant to the palace."

Remy groaned. "Why do you always give me the boring assignments?"

"Because you're the youngest," Henri said, jabbing his brother in the side.

"Because I trust you," Jean-Luc responded. "Something weird about these two- not sure what. But I don't like it, and if I send anybody else they'll get eaten for sure."

"Ha ha ha," said Remy dryly, his brown eyes flashing yellow for a moment. He stood up, brushed himself off, grabbed a bag off the floor, and walked into the other room.

The noble raised one eyebrow when she saw him. "Who's this?"

"Your guide, milady," said Jean-Luc. "My son Remy."

"Why am I not thrilled?" her servant asked, but quietly. The noble not-so-subtly kicked him.

Remy bowed.

"He's young, yes, but I trust him. He can handle this. You're in good hands, Miss Pryde." Jean-Luc gestured at the door.

Remy, Katheryn, and the servant walked out. "Well," said Remy, smirking slightly. "This is gonna be interesting, at the least."

&&&

"We should've turned tail and ran right there," Kurt interjected, shaking his head.

"Unlike you, not all of us have a tail to turn," Kitty responded, nudging him with a small grin.

"You know," said Kurt, in a belabored tone, "what I mean, mistress."

Kitty pulled a face at him.

Remy, in the background, rolled his eyes and cleared his throat.

Rogue made the go-on gesture again.

"Nah ah ah, I'll take it from here, sheep boy," said Kitty, waving a finger in his face. Remy looked as though he longed to bite it off. "You'll just go off into your sheep rant again." Remy opened her mouth. "**Shut** it, LeBeau." Remy sighed and shut it. "Good doggy." Remy sneered again. "Ok, so, then we made the mistake of coming to a town famous for its sheep population. Hedgeville. Baaad idea.

"To make a long story short, Remy ate a bunch of sheep without asking and thus got us into a lot of trouble. Turns out people in Hedgeville take their sheep **really** seriously. They were gonna burn Remy at the stake!

"Normally, it would've been, eh, no great loss, but we needed a guide. So Kurt came up with this crazy way to break him out-"

"It wasn't crazy!" Kurt interjected, indignant.

"Yes, it was!"

"It worked, didn't it?"

"And we nearly got killed in the process!"

"A fluke. How was I supposed to know the warden was such a light sleeper?"

Remy and Rogue cleared their throats in creepy imitations of each other. "Just tell the damn story, ok?" Remy suggested.

"Right," said Kitty, clearing her throat. "So, anyway, Kurt decided that he could just bamf-"

"Bamf?" Rogue asked, one eyebrow raised.

"It's what we call his little talent for teleportation," Kitty explained with a shrug. "It's the sound it makes. Like I was saying, he figured he could just bamf in and get Remy. But of course it didn't work that way. Kurt can only go so far on guesswork, so we decided to get on the roof. He bamfed up there, then looked down through the window, bamfed into Remy's cell, grabbed him- who was by now throroughly confused- and bamfed out of the cell... right next to the warden, of course."

"Hey, you can't blame me- four bamfs in a row really takes it out of a guy!"

Kitty shot him a look and Kurt shut up. "Good boy. Anyway, the warden woke up, of course, and so Remy had to drag Kurt- who was pretty much unconcious at that point- out of the jail, while running for his life from the warden, who happened to have owned the sheep he ate.

"To make a stupid story short, they got away, and we got out of the town without further mishap- first forcing Remy to tell us what the hell he was doing eating those sheep in the first place, naturally."

Kitty shrugged and spread her hands. "The rest is pretty much just us getting spooked by a royal carriage and thus lost."

"Crazy," said Rogue. "You're all crazy. And I'll be driven crazy by proxy, probably."

The other three glanced at each other and nodded. "Yeah."

(OH MY GOD that was hard to write. This chapter was one HELL of a bitchkitty. I will try to have updates sooner. This chapter was just- ugh, impossible. Thus the adverbs run rampant. Oooh boy I think I'm gonna go bang my head against a wall for a while now, because DAMN am I annoyed.)


	4. Stir

Disclaimer: "But if you tell on us- ... pain! Lots of pain! Your insides will become your outsides! Your entrails will become your extrails!"

(An: See, ha! I told you I'd update faster. -holds arms out a la Superman-)

After that, everyone agreed sleep would be a good idea.

Rogue was kept awake long after Kitty and Kurt by the sound of Remy banging his head against a tree. After about fifteen minutes of this, Rogue got sick of it and went over by him. "What the **hell** is the matter with you? Is it physically impossible for you to be quiet for a while or something?"

Remy, head still leaned against the tree, turned and stared at her blearily with yellow eyes.

"...Weren't those brown yesterday?"

"Probably," Remy agreed. "I don't change all the way, oh no, but they-" he made a vague gesture at his eyes, "-have a way of changing that plays havoc with picking clothing."

Rogue stared at him.

"Tough crowd, tough crowd," said Remy, turning his eyes to the tree.

Rogue rolled her eyes and pulled herself up onto a branch. She reached for another, and then glanced back at him. "You coming or what?"

"I would," said Remy, "but I don't think the tree likes me very much." He waved a hand at the branches, which were shrinking out of reach.

"Stop that," Rogue said, kicking the limb she was standing on.

The branches snapped back to their   
positions.

"No problem," said Rogue, climbing higher.

Remy blinked and followed.

It took a lot of climbing to get to the top. Remy's eyes widened as Rogue shoved aside a few branches to reveal the moon. He grinned. "_Merci, ma chere._"

"Would you stop calling me that? I don't even know what it means!"

"My point exactly, _chere_."

Rogue glared at him but Remy was focused on the moon. "I used to break out of my room at night to stare at the moon. I was adopted, so my family didn't get it."

"They don't know?"

Remy's mouth curled up in a bitter smirk. "Oh, they know. And so rightly they avoid me like the plague. As soon as I finish this job, I'm quitting and getting my own place- far, **far** away from them."

"You don't get along well with them, do you?"

"Is it **that** obvious?" Remy drawled, leaning against the branch.

Rogue frowned. "It's just I don't remember my family at all." She shrugged.

"They **aren't** my family."

"Well, then, who is?" Rogue asked.

Remy didn't answer.

&&&

The next morning found Kitty and Kurt awake before Remy, which only happened never.

"Is he dead?" Kurt whispered.

Kitty glared at him. "Of course not! Watch." Kitty give Remy a good hard nudge with her foot. Remy rolled over, muttering something in his sleep.

Rogue dropped from a tree. "Get up," she said to Remy before noticing Kitty and Kurt. "What?"

Remy sat up, blinking.

Kitty shook her head, threw up her hands, and, to Kurt's eternal confusion, refused to say anything more until they got going.

&&&

It was luck that they stumbled on the road, whatever Remy might've said to the contrary. It would've been good luck, except that the exact same carriage they'd gotten off the road to hide from was coming at them. Remy grabbed Kitty and threw her back into the brush. "Stay there," he hissed, and to the others, "try and look casual."

Rogue flicked her hair over her ears and Kurt ducked into the shadows, becoming nearly invisible, as the carriage slowed.

A man leaned out. "You, there, what's your business in the forest?"

Remy bowed. "Just passing through, _monsieur_," he said, keeping his head down.

"Who's the girl?"

"My, uh, sister, sir," said Remy, straightening up. "We're going to meet family on the other side of the forest."

The man frowned. He was about to lean back into the carriage. That was, of course, when Kitty came tumbling out of the forest, the beginnings of a poison ivy reaction on her arms, the mark on her hand prominent.

The man in the carriage gasped and jumped out, followed by the driver and another guy.

"Oh, great," Remy muttered, squaring himself. "Just great."

"It's three against four, no problem," said Kurt.

That was when the **other** carriage drove up.

"Ok, this is a problem."

Remy jerked his head at Kitty. "Get her out of here." He pulled out three pieces of metal from his pocket and began screwing them together. "Move it, fuzzbutt!"

Kurt grabbed Kitty and bamfed.

Having assembled the metal... thing (it looked like a stick to Rogue) he grabbed her hand. "Do you trust me?" he hissed.

"Do I have a choice?"

This seemed to be the answer he was looking for, as he grabbed her around the waist and polevaulted them over the carriage into a tree. Their pause was long enough for one of the archers from the second carriage to graze Rogue with an arrow. She pulled on it at the same time that the archer yanked on the rope attached to it. The arrow came loose, opening a large tear in Rogue's shirt as Remy grabbed her again and jumped out of the tree, running deeper into the forest.

After a few minutes of running, he stopped. "This should be enough," he stated, leaning against a tree and panting. "The guards never come very far in here." He glanced at her. "You ok?"

"Um, yeah," said Rogue, trying to hold together what was left of her shirt.

Remy handed her his coat without a word.

&&&

"Are you all right, Kitty?" Kurt asked, eyeing her nervously. They were pretty far from the road and he thought they were good.

"Yeah, just a little itchy," she muttered. "He threw me in a poison ivy patch." She picked a stick off the ground and snapped it in half as though it'd done her a great personal wrong. She held out a stick half the size of the original, only a little longer than her palm. "Point us," she instructed. The stick spun and pointed west... the way they'd come, in other words. "Great."

&&&

"What just happened?" Rogue asked. "If they were palace guards, couldn't they have just taken us with them?"

"The regent is corrupt," Remy explained. "Everyone knows that she's ordered to have anyone bearing the royal mark killed. In other words, it's in our best interests to keep quiet and out of sight."

"And why are we in such a hurry?"

"The regent gets coronated two months after the death of the king and queen if there is no one found with the mark," Remy explained. "That's about a week and a half from the full moon, I believe."

"So what do we do now?"

"Wait," said Remy, sitting on the ground. "Kitty and Kurt'll be here soon enough."

&&&

It took Kitty and Kurt ten minutes to find their way back to the road. That was lucky, since if they'd been any quicker they would've been caught. Seeing no one nearby, Kurt bamfed them across. Kitty repeated the pointing spell, and they stumbled upon Rogue and Remy five minutes later. 

Kitty immediately backhanded Remy, **hard**. "The hell was that for?" Remy cried, rubbing his head.

"For dumping me in a poison ivy patch and **then** crossing the road without us!"

Remy glared at her and Kitty glared back. Kurt facepalmed with a sigh. "Oh, dear, this is gonna take a while."

(Bwahaha! I am Spartacus! Fear me! Or better, review me!)


	5. Mix in a Quest

Disclaimer: "It's hard work being apathetic AND ignorant."

(An: And here we get to John and Wanda... this must be the seventh time I've tried to type this up.)

Remy spotted the tattoo on Rogue's back by accident. He was getting more firewood when he glanced up.

Rogue had let the shambles of her shirt and Remy's coat slip down her back. From shoulderblade to shoulderblade her skin turned inky black.

Remy dropped the sticks he was holding and walked over to her. He traced the patter with one finger, not quite touching her. "Do you mind?" he asked quietly.

Rogue shifted his coat, giving him a full view of her back. She sat up a little straighter as he traced the blank line on her back. "It's a map," he announced after a minute.

Rogue turned her head and looked at him. "What?"

"Someone tattooed a map on your back."

"Weird." Rogue turned back to the fire.

"Kurt, come here," said Remy.

Kurt came, but reluctantly, not seeming to like having to stare at a girl's back. "_Was_?"

"Look at this," said Remy, gently tapping a star in the upper left corner of rogue's back. "I think this is the elves's citadel. And down here's where we found Rogue."

"And..." said Kitty.

"_Et_ this means we finally know where she's from. It means we can take her to people- er, elves who really know who she is. _Chere_?"

Rogue shrugged. "I don't really have anywhere else to go, now do I?"

Kitty broke in again. "But how far is it from the palace?"

"About a day's detour," said Remy, shrugging. "At the rate we're going, we'll get to the palace in two days."

"Well, all right then," said Kitty, sated.

Kurt wasn't, though. "How do **you** know?"

Remy was copying the map onto a piece of paper. He frowned. "I've, uh, been there."

Kurt and Kitty gaped at him. "**You've** been to the elves' citadel?"

"And you never told us?" Kitty agreed.

"There's a lot you don't know about me." Remy rolled up the copy of the map, and absently resettled his coat around Rogue's shoulders. He refused to say anything more on the matter.

&&&

The next day found them finally out of the forest at the walls of a city. "The capital," Remy announced. "We're making great time." Kitty nudged Kurt, who sighed, and waved his hand across his face. To Rogue's amazement, his true appearance vanished to be replaced by an image of a perfectly normal person.

"It's called a glammer, _mein Dame,_" said Kurt to Rogue, and then to Remy, "Do we have time to eat?"

"Are you ever not hungry?" Kitty replied. Kurt opened his mouth and Kitty shook her head. "No. Don't answer that."

Remy rolled his eyes and brought them to a small bar. "It might be wise for you," he pointed at Rogue, "to put your hood up and hide your flash."

"My flash?"

Remy pointed at her necklace. Rogue promptly tucked it under her shirt and pulled up her hood.

They walked in and took a table in the back. A while after ordering, Rogue said, "Somebody's staring at us."

Remy looked around and did a double take when he saw the gawker, a redhead in nondescript clothes. "No way," he said, eyes widening. "No way in **hell**."

The redhead tapped the woman he was sitting with and said something, point excitedly. The woman rolled her eyes and went back to her book. The guy came over and slammed his hands down on the table, grinning.

"Didn't think they let trash like you in here," Remy commented, returning the grin.

"And a good day to you too, LeBeau. Who're your friends?"

Remy introduced them.

"The name's John, John Allerdyce." He stuck out his hand to Kurt, who stared at it like it might bite him.

"I have a rash," said Kurt, grinning nervously. "Real bad."

John blinked. "Good for you."

Remy nodded back at the woman at John's table. "Who's the _femme_?"

Although it hadn't seemed possible, John's grin got wider. "Wanda Maximoff."

Kitty choked on her drink.

"So you've heard of her, then?"

Remy gaped at him. "How'd you end up with **her**?"

John blushed. "It ain't anything like that- she saved my skin and somehow I ended up her servant." He held up his palm, which had a thin scar on it.

"I **knew** the only _femme_ who'd be interested in you would be crazy," Remy commented.

John backhanded him, red agian. "It's. Not. Like. That!"

Remy just smirked.

"How do you two know each other, anyway?" Rogue interjected.

"We worked together once," Remy explained. "For a crazy _homme_."

"He's Wanda's dad, in fact," said John.

"I can see where she gets it from, then."

Rogue raised one eyebrow.

"Wanda Maximoff is quite possibly the most powerful witch this side of the ocean. She was put in an asylum when she was little because she couldn't control her powers."

"You make it sound like a bad thing," said John, reproachful.

"Well, to a crazy guy, asylums **are** home, so it must seem rosy to you..."

"Oh, come off it."

This was apparently when Wanda got bored of waiting, because that's when she came over. "Are you done yet?" she asked John. He shook his head. Wanda sighed and twitched her fingers at a chair. It came sliding over and she straddled it backwards. "Ok, LeBeau, what's the deal?"

Remy looked as innocent as possible (which admittedly wasn't very). "No deal. Nothing to report."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure," said Wanda, raising one eyebrow. "Tell the truth for once in your life."

Remy rolled his eyes. "Just doing my civic duty..."

"Elaborate."

Remy sighed and nodded at Kitty, who rolled down her sleeve to reveal the mark.

"Well, well, well," said Wanda. "Isn't that... **interesting**."

Kitty rolled down her sleeve and Kurt said, "No, it's not."

"Calm down there, lover-boy." She turned her attention to Remy as Kurt turned slightly red. "I want in."

"In on what?"

"Whatever you're doing, genius. I'm bored, and this sounds like fun."

Remy muttered something that probably wasn't very nice, but said, "Oh, all right," anyway.

"Goody," said Wanda. She grabbed John's arm. "C'mon, we gotta pack."

"Oh, boy, this is gonna be **great**," Remy muttered.

(That was shorter than usual, but that always happens when I write out my chapters. And becides, this was a good place to stop.)


	6. Plus An Escape

Disclaimer: "Who was she to say he was an orphan, this Ablah blah blah blah or whatever she called herself?"

(An: An Eragon reference? ...Maybe... I love that book. I've read it twice, just not recently. Eheheh... -nervous giggle- I'm certain the beginning scene in this was inspired by something, but who knows?)

The map on Rogue's back led them to a smooth stone wall with a couple of indentations in it.

"Well, this is helpful," said Wanda.

"The map is a dead end. Who knew?" said Kurt.

"No, no, this is it," said Remy, shaking his head. "There's a trick to get in, but I don't remember it; I was unconcious when we got to the gate."

"Are you ever going to tell us what you were doing here?" Rogue asked, hands on her hips.

"That would be a _non, chere_," said Remy. "Just leave it at they don't like me much here."

"So why would you be so keen on taking me here, then?"

Remy avoided her eyes. "I want you to be happy, is all," he said, in a voice too quiet for the others to hear.

Rogue gave him an odd look but was spared comment by Kitty saying, "I think I know how to get in."

"Enlighten us, _si vous plait,_," said Remy.

Kitty walked up to the wall and ran her fingers over the grooves in the rock. "See, look. Elves worship heavenly bodies and stuff like that, right?" She didn't wait for an answer. "See, this one here looks like a sunburst, and this one looks kind of like a star, and **this** one," she tapped a crescent shaped groove, "looks like a moon."

"And..." said everyone else.

"Can I have your necklace for a moment, Rogue?"

Rogue blinked and handed it over.

Kitty took the pendant and pressed it into the groove. There was a scraping noise as the rock slid open.

Kitty's triumphant smirk lasted only a moment as she saw the elves waiting behind the rock. The elves with spears.

Then one stepped out. He was short, with scruffy blue-black hair and three knives balanced between the fingers of his left hand. "What the **HELL** are you doing with my daugher, LeBeau?"

Remy instantly got an oh-_merde_ look and Rogue blinked. "You're my father?" she asked.

Everyone else except the elves was clearly thinking the same thing.

ABOUT TEN MINUTES LATER, THE ELVES'S DUNGEON...

Wanda was leaning against the bars of the cell. Everyone except Rogue had been brought down here after entering the elves's citadel. She was talking to the guard. "Will you let me out?"

The guard just paused in polishing his sword to raise one eyebrow at her.

"I didn't think so." She took a step back and indicated for the others to crowd against the back of the room. "I have to warn you- I'm going to break out. If you don't back up, you'll get hurt."

The guard snorted.

"She's tellin' the truth, mate," John agreed from the back of the room.

"Sure you don't want to let me out?"

The guard just stared at her.

"All right, keep in mind I warned you..." Wanda rubbed her hands together. A bolt of blue energy formed between them. Wanda spread her palms and the cell door exploded. Luckily the guard ducked... really luckily, since a piece of the door lodged in the wall right where his head had been. "I warned him," Wanda muttered, looking down at the guard. He'd fainted.

"Nice work," said John, brushing dust off himself and joining her.

"...**Nice**?" Kitty demanded, indicated her dress, which had been a dark blue but was now grey.

"The last time she did this it was a lot messier," John informed her with a sage nod.

The three still in the cell just stared at him.

"**What**?"

Remy shook his head. "_Dieu,_ you're such an idiot," he muttered.

"Yeah," Wanda agreed, but her mind seemed to be on something else.

&&&

While Wanda and the others were being imprisoned and subsequently escaping, Rogue was being briefed by her father.

She sat down on the bed of what she'd been told was her room, fingering her necklace. Looking around, she saw plenty of things that she'd like, but nothing that stirred any memories. It seemed that her past was lost to her forever.

She drew her legs up to her chest and rested her head on her knees.

If she stayed here, it was obvious she'd never see her traveling companions again. She got the impression that the only reason they hadn't been killed on the spot was because she was with them.

Nothing would ever make her admit it, but she'd become kind of attached to them... especially Remy...

She shook herself. To avoid such unsettling thoughts, she thought back to what'd happened after her friends had been taken away.

&&&

"It's good to have you back, kid," the elf claiming to be her father said, giving her a quick, one-armed hug.

Rogue stared at him.

"What's your problem, Stripes?"

"I lost my memory," she explained, trying and failing to find something familiar about the short, gruff figure before her.

"Well, that explains why you never came back from the forest," he muttered.

Just then, a short, black-haired elf in a plain blue shift came running up. "Logan," she gasped, "King-" She stopped midsentence and hurriedly curtsied. "My lady, I'm sorry, I didn't see you..." She trailed off, seeing the blank look Rogue was giving her. "Lady Marie?"

"She's an amnesiac, squirt," Logan informed her.

"Oh, **great**," she muttered. "And the New Moon ceremony is coming up, too."

"Go tell King Xavier I'm busy getting my daughter up to speed," said Logan, flapping a hand at her.

"Yes, sir," she responded, rolling her eyes. She ran off.

"Ok, Stripes, here's the deal," said Logan. "I'm your dad. Your mom was human. Even though you're only half-Blood, the Seer, Irene, Saw you being brought here by your mom, and also being made the priestess's apprentice. That was Jubilee. She's an acolyte in the temple and a messenger girl." He led her to a door. "This is your room. I'll send up the priestess. She'll explain," he gestured vaguely at her necklace, "all of that better than I could." He opened the door.

Rogue walked inside (even though she knew her name, she couldn't bring herself to use it).

&&&

While Rogue was pondering her past, the escapees were trying to sneak out.

"Stay here," Remy whispered to the others. "I hear someone coming."

&&&

Jubilee's excuse for not hearing the human sneak up on her was that she'd been fuming about Logan. _The _nerve of that guy! Just because he's older and a little higher ranking thanks to his battle experience, he thinks he can boss me around and call me squirt all the time!

Her inner rant was interrupted by a man stepping out of the shadows and grabbing her from behind.

She opened her mouth to scream, but he covered her mouth. "Now, now, _petite_, I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to know where the elf I came in with is. I'm gonna let you talk now, but if you scream, well, then..." He stuck his face next to hers, revealing flashing yellow eyes and fangs. "_D'accord_?"

Jubilee stifled a gasp and nodded. The man's eyes changed to brown and he gave her a reassuring (and thankfully close-mouthed) smile. He uncovered her mouth.

"You mean Lady Marie?" she asked.

"Does she have funny white stripes in her hair?"

"Yeah, that's her. She's in the room just above the stone gate."

"_Merci, petite._ I'm gonna let you go now, _d'accord_?" Jubilee nodded again and he let go. "Now, then, I didn't hurt you, and I'm certainly not gonna hurt R- **Marie**, so let's keep this between us, _oui_? I only want to talk with _ma chere_."

Jubilee frowned a little, but said, "Um... all right..."

"_Merci beaucoup, ma petite_," said the guy, fading back into the shadows.

After a moment, Jubilee scowled as she started for the King's chambers again. _Even a complete_ stranger_ called me short!_

&&&

After a couple of close calls, the group made it back out the front gate.

"Marie's up there," said Remy, pointing up at a window above it. "Can you get in?" he asked Kurt.

"Of course," said Kurt and bamfed.

&&&

What snapped Rogue out of her reverie was Kurt's arrival in a cloud of smoke. "_Guten Tag!_"

"Are you guys leaving?" Rogue asked.

"Are you coming with?"

Rogue paused, biting her lip. She looked around. She belonged here. Her father was here. Her past was here. _Yeah,_ she thought, _but my future's down there._

She took off the necklace, stared at it for a moment, then set it on her bed and took Kurt's hand.

He bamfed them down.

"Let's go," said Rogue.

"Sure about this, _chere_?" Remy asked her in a low voice.

"There's nothing for me back there, not anymore."

"Whatever you want, Marie."

"Call me Rogue," she replied.

(Well, there we go. There're only three or four chapters left here, depending on how long the next one goes on, can you b'lieve it?)


	7. And then a Rebellion

Disclaimer: "Mulgar's Inn: You can go inn, but you can't come out."

(An: Well, here we go again... and of course we haven't gotten to the coupleness yet; it's not the end!)

By the time they got back to the city, it was quite dark. Remy led them into an inn, where a tall, lanky, pale man was cleaning a glass. He glanced up, and scowled. "What do you want, LeBeau?"

"Just let me in, Caliban," said Remy. "I've got something for your group."

Caliban's eyes narrowed. "This had better not be a trick..." he muttered, opening the divider between the main room and the back.

"Trust me, Caliban, it's exactly what you guys've been looking for," Remy replied breezily. 

"Does **anybody** like you?" Kurt hissed.

Remy shot him a death glare as he pushed aside one of the shelves, revealing a tunnel. "I'd suggest keeping your eyes straight ahead; ain't the prettiest in here." He grabbed one of the torches off the walls as Caliban shoved the shelf back into place. 

Kitty let out a little whimper as she looked at the walls. "Why are we in the catacombs?" she whispered, edging closer to the center of the path.

"I **did** warn you, _petite_," Remy pointed out. "The rebels are a pretty morbid bunch."

"They must be **lovely** conversationalists," Wanda commented, and John snorted.

"Why are we going to the rebels?" Kitty demanded.

"You don't honestly think the regent or her guards would let you in the palace, right?" said Remy, incredulous. "They'd kill you on sight. You're the last block between her and the throne."

Kurt hissed slightly and stepped closer to Kitty. For once in her life she didn't flinch away.

"They're the only safe way into the castle. Just do what I told you: keep your eyes straight ahead," said Remy, rolling his eyes.

The walk seemed to take forever to Kitty, but really it only took about ten minutes until they came to a door. Remy knocked, and a woman with an eyepatch opened a slot in the door. She instantly glared at him. "What the **hell** are you doing here?"

"We need a way into the palace."

"LeBeau, even if I trusted you, what makes you think I'd let you **and** them in?" the woman demanded.

"Because I brought you a noble."

Kitty recognized her cue and held up her hand.

The woman inhaled sharply. "Well, that changes everything," she said, and opened the door.

Inside the room were a number of people, scattered around and talking in low voices. The woman who'd let them in walked over to a woman with dark skin and purple eyes and whispered something. The second woman came walking over, hands on her hips. "Well, I never thought I'd see you around these parts again, Remy," she said, frowning.

"Why can't you people ever let be bygones be bygones?" Remy moaned.

"We're trying to rebel here; traitors don't serve us well."

"Hmm, getting killed or ditching you guys, when I didn't even have obligations to you in the first place?" Remy mock-mused.

"Can somebody **please** just tell me what we're gonna do?" Kitty demanded.

The woman walked up to her and grabbed her hand, inspecting it. "Well, for once, he's telling the truth," she muttered.

Kitty cleared her throat, raising one eyebrow.

"Right, right," said the woman absently, releasing her hand. "My name's Ororo. Everyone knows that since the king and queen died, things have gone downhill with the regent in charge. Me and my friends-" she gestured around the room, "-have been trying to keep her out of power. Of course, everyone we find who seems like they might have the mark 'mysteriously'," she made quotes in the air, "dies. Tomorrow she gets coronated, and then we're **all** in for it." She pointed at Kitty. "Unless we can get her on the throne before that happens, of course." She gestured for them to follow. She pointed at another door. "This tunnel goes all the way under the palace. Handy, isn't it?"

"More like time-consuming," muttered a man who was bent over some weird invention.

"Darling, do us all a favor and shut up," Ororo replied, waving at him.

He made a rude gesture at her back.

"I saw that," she said, pushing open the door. "Come on, then."

Remy was wearing an amused smirk. "You and Forge? Come on, 'Ro, I thought you had better taste."

Ororo just stared at him.

"Do you have a death wish or something?" said John.

Ororo rolled her eyes and headed into the tunnel.

While the first tunnel they'd went through had a downward slope, this one seemed to go higher, until they came to a metal grate. Ororo stroked her white hair. Sparks clustered on her fingertips until she had a sizeable lightning bolt in her hands. She pointed it at the grate and whispered "Strike." The grate melted and Ororo pulled herself up and out, the others following. "The throne room's this way," she whispered, pointing down a hall. "Stay here and let me get the others; we can keep the guards busy."

A few minutes later, she returned, followed by the first woman, two boys, and a wolf. "The idea is just to keep the guards away from the throne room long enough for her to get in there," she whispered. "No theatrics, no wounds, no provoking, got it?"

"You give us this lecture **every** time," moaned a boy with dark skin. "We get it, Aunty O, we get it!"

"And yet you always mess up," she replied, glaring at him.

The wolf snorted indignantly.

"We don't mess up **all** the time," agreed the second boy, a tall, lanky blond. "...Just a lot."

"You're not helping, Sam," hissed the first boy.

"Just get in there," Ororo responded, facepalming. "Forge, Callisto, and I will run backup."

The boys and the wolf rolled their eyes, but ran off.

There was a loud crash, a howl, and the sound of ripping fabric from down the hall.

"Three... two... one..." Ororo murmured. Right on cue, there was the sound of footsteps. Ororo smirked. "Now you can go. Make a break for it!"

The group didn't hesitate; they ran down the indicated hallway.

"Well..." said Remy, pausing as they entered the massive room. He gestured at the throne on the other end. "There it is."

"After all this hassle, it seems a little too easy," Kitty commented, starting across the room.

Then, of course, the floor collapsed beneath them.

"You **had** to say it, didn't you," Remy muttered, rubbing his head.

"Are you ok, Kitty?" Kurt asked, helping her up.

"Oh... my... God..." Wanda gasped.

"Wh-" the others started. Then they saw what she was staring at. It stood about ten feet tall from silver talons to neck, and its eyes glinted. It was a dragon. And it did **not** look happy to see them.

&&&

The regent snickered softly, allowing herself to lose the form of the old regent and return to her usual, blue self. She leaned toward her mirror, watching as they scurried around. _Another day, another attempt. The rebels get more pathetic with every try._

She smirked as the dragon advanced on them. A nesting mother was a very touchy creature.

Then her breath caught as one of the rebels grabbed a girl and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. She waved a hand at the mirror and it closed in on them, a blue boy with odd hands and feet and an elf with white stripes in her hair. _Could it be... no, I left them long ago._ She shook herself and waved away the image in the mirror, dismissing the whole thing to pre-coronation nerves. By tomorrow morning the rebels would be a snack for her pet and she'd... well, she'd be queen. Life would be good again.

(Bwahaha! A cliffhanger! Fear it in its... suspensefulness! Or whatever. Heheheh... we're so close to the end, I can almost taste it.)


	8. Stir in a Few Mythical Beasts

Disclaimer: "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus: Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon."

(An: Here 'tis, the second-to-last chapter... the big, climactic battle... thing. Yes, there IS a Shrek ref in the chapter and YES it is on purpouse, it's called Skysong-hates-action-scenes-but-likes-shortcuts. I'm kind of taking liberties with John's powers- we're assuming he uses magic here; of course it'd be a little different. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)

When the dragon approached, it decided that the three people in front would be the easiest to step on. The three people in front being Kurt, Kitty, and Rogue.

Kurt grabbed Rogue and bamfed. "What about Kitty?" Rogue gasped, stumbling a little.

"Trust me, _meine Katzchen_ can take care of herself," said Kurt. He pointed as Kitty came running through one of the dragon's legs.

The dragon, incensed at this, breathed fire.

"You gotta do better than that," John muttered, holding up his arms. The fire stopped around Remy, Wanda, and him like they were covered in a glass bowl.

"Why didn't you ever mention you could do that?" Remy demanded.

John made a throat-cutting gesture and the fire disappeared. "You never asked, mate."

Remy shot him a withering look before they scattered again as the dragon approached. "We'll continue this later," he yelled at John, who saluted and dodged the dragon's feet.

"There's gotta be a better way to do this," Wanda muttered, pausing and staring at the lizard.

John grabbed her arm and dragged her off. "Think later, run for your life now!"

Kitty, meanwhile, had an idea. She ran up to Kurt, pointing at a lever. "Get me over there!"

Kurt blinked, and then bamfed.

Kitty yanked on the lever and the chandelier came down... right on the dragon's head. "Wanda!" she yelled.

Wanda got the hint and blasted where the chandelier connected to the roof. It melted, and the dragon was stuck.

John yanked her out of harm's way (again) as the dragon snapped at her. "You really need to pay more attention when you're fighting," he muttered, sliding back behind the lizard.

Wanda wasn't listening. She was too busy looking at the shiny thing on the ground. "John," she said, tugging his arm. "Is that what I think it is?"

"An egg?" they asked in unison.

Then a raven flapped down, landing on the dragon's head. It changed into a blue-skinned woman, who patted the dragon. "Poor thing, looks like the rebels are a little smarter than we give them credit for," she cooed. "Oh, well, they say to get something done right you have to do it yourself."

Kitty stepped up, holding up her hand. "Hey, you! Are you the regent?"

"Mmm," she murmured, "I suppose you could say that... at least, I'm filling the position." She smiled a very nasty smile.

"And I've got the mark," Kitty continued. "Look, you let us up there-" she pointed at the throne, "-and we won't totally kill you... maybe you can even keep the position. How's that sound?"

"Regent's rather a step down from queen, wouldn't you say?" she replied.

Kurt, however, had heard none of this. He was too busy gaping. "...**Mother**?" he gasped.

Mystique threw back her head and laughed. "I was wondering if you'd recognize me... it's been a while, Kurt, dear, how've you been?"

"...What are you talking about?" Kitty hissed, stepping closer to Kurt.

"That's my mother- she left me when I was little," Kurt whispered back. "It's rather hard to forget someone like that."

"It's really not polite to ignore someone," Mystique said, still perched on the irate dragon. "Did you forget everything I taught you?"

"Whatever he knows, I'm sure he didn't learn it from **you**," Kitty shot back. "You're nothing alike!"

"Oh, well, there's a black sheep in every family, I suppose," Mystique replied, swinging her legs. "What about you, Marie? How's life with the elves?"

Rogue blinked.

"Mmm, I suppose you **wouldn't** recognize me; you were just a baby... well, it's never too late, right?"

Remy stared at Rogue. "And I thought **my** family was messed up," he muttered.

"Now then, down to business," Mystique said. She slid down the nose of the dragon and onto the ground, looking around with that nasty smile again. She held out her hands and adressed Remy. "Look, since you've got my son and daughter with you, I'll tell you what: you can go. Just renounce your claim to the throne, keep your head down for one more day. Let me be coronated."

Remy raised one eyebrow, crossing his arms. "Or what?"

Mystique drew a sword. "Guess."

"Where'd she get that?" Wanda (still behind the dragon) hissed.

"Where was she keeping it?" John murmured.

Wanda shot him a sharp look. "I don't think she noticed us," she whispered back. "If we stay back here, maybe we can sneak up on her."

"Good idea... what'll we do then?"

"I'm thinking!" She glanced back at the egg. "I know what to do..." She leaned over and whispered in John's ear.

He grinned, pulling a match from his pocket. "I like this plan," he whispered back.

Wanda rolled her eyes, smiling anyway. She picked up the egg.

John struck the match and broadened the small flame, making a small platform. Wanda handed him the egg and he set it on the flames.

Mystique, meanwhile, was twirling her sword. "I'll give you one more chance to reconsider."

"In case you haven't noticed, you're hopelessly outnumbered," Remy pointed out.

Mystique shook her head. What she was about to say, we'll never know, because just then John's fire platform nudged her back. She turned, and the fire disappeared, leaving the egg. On instinct, Mystique caught it.

Now, remember, she was standing in front of the dragon. The dragon didn't see her mistress. What she saw was a woman trying to steal one of her eggs. The dragon had little freedom of movement, but she could still reach Mystique. One lunge, and there was nothing left of her but the egg, which the dragon caught and began to croon to.

Remy blinked. "...That was weird."

"That's because it was Wanda's idea," said John, the two of them joining the others.

Wanda smacked him. "It worked, didn't it?"

Kurt grabbed Kitty and bamfed up to the thrones. Was it just his imagination, or did her arms linger around him for a moment? Kurt dismissed it as wishful thinking. He'd been around Kitty long enough to know that.

Kitty ran her hand along the armrest of one of them. "You'd think, after all this trouble, it'd be harder than this," she murmured. "But when the castle wakes up, I'll be coronated, and then..." 

A little shiver ran down Kurt's back. _Then you'll renounce me as your servant, and I'll go back to my life and you'll be queen, and it'll be just like we never met... except it won't._

"Yeah, sure, leave us down here," Rogue muttered.

"Ok, we are stuck in a hole in the floor with one dragon and one egg, and no apparent way of getting up there," Wanda said. "What do we do next?"

"You're the thinker, not me," John replied.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Wanda retorted.

John looked at her oddly, but didn't say anything.

There was the sound of footsteps, and the rebels came in, looking significantly more scruffy than they had. "Need a lift?" Ororo asked, smirking nastily.

Remy stared back, his expression dry. "That would be appreciated, _oui_."

Ororo twirled her fingers, and a breeze came up. "Cluster together, would you? It's harder when you're scattered like that."

The group obliged, and a platform of wind lifted them up to the thrones.

"_Merci,_" Remy called.

"If you don't mind, we'll just ship out now," Callisto responded. "We're not really the public ceremony types."

"Not with their criminal record, no," Remy whispered to Rogue, smirking.

The rebels left, and a few minutes later a magistrate came in, still in a nightshirt and looking rather annoyed. "What's all the commotion about? Where is the regent? Who are you people? You're not from the rebels, are you?"

Everyone pointed at Kitty, who held up her hand. Even in the dim light, the mark stood out, glowing with its own light.

The magistrate gasped. "Is that-?"

"Yeah, I've got the mark," Kitty said. "Can you fix the floor so we can get this all sorted out?"

"Uh- uh, why yes, yes, right," the magistrate murmured. He ran his hand across the wall and pushed in one of the rocks. The floor slid shut, covering the dragon and snapping the chain on the chandelier in the process.

LATER THAT DAY...

The commotion in the castle had yet to calm. After it had been confirmed that yes, Kitty had the mark and was thus the heir to the throne, things got a little nuts. Well, more like a lot nuts.

Kitty was shipped off to a room with a lot of advisers and lots of paperwork. Remy, Rogue, Wanda, and John were all given different rooms and told that the coronation would probably be tomorrow.

Kurt, however, was nowhere to be found.

&&&

Kurt curled up in a lower level of the castle, below the hustle and bustle, far from everyone else. It was dark and dusty down here. No one would find him. He'd just rest a while, and then he'd sneak out, unnoticed and unseen. He wouldn't have to face Kitty, wouldn't have to have to bear having his _Katzchen_ renounce him, not having to see her face. Her beautiful, beautiful face.

Kurt hid his own face in his hands. He was invisible down here- with his eyes covered no one could tell him from the shadows.

_I'll just go,_ he thought. _Maybe get one last look- but then I'll leave. It'll be too much if she..._ Kurt shook himself. He wasn't gonna think about that. He was just gonna rest, keep his eyes closed, not think about his mother or his newly discovered sister or his _Katzchen_-

Kurt whimpered. His thoughts were going in circles, and sooner or later it was just going to-

He looked up, hearing footsteps. His necklace grew warm... Kitty!

Kurt covered his eyes again, in the vain hopes that she might not spot him.

"Ow!" Kitty cried, stubbing her foot on something. There was a fizzle, and then a small ball of light flooded Kurt's closed eyes. "That's better." A hand touched his leg. "Kurt?"

Kurt sighed and put his hands down. "_Katzchen,_" he murmured.

"What're you doing down here? I've been looking all over for you," said Kitty.

Kurt didn't say anything. He knew why she'd been looking for him... so he thought. _Just get it over with... renounce me as your servant, end it now._

"Kurt?" Kitty whispered. She reached out and touched his face. "What's wrong?"

Kurt flinched.

Kitty didn't back off. "Kurt..." She frowned. "Oh, don't tell me- Kurt, did you think I was going to renounce you? Don't tell me that."

Kurt blinked, not quite believing it.

"Is that why you've been... weird all day?"

Kurt nodded, leaning into Kitty's touch now.

"I never thought you could be so thick," Kitty whispered. "I didn't want you for that, I didn't want you for that at all."

"Well, then, what did you want?"

"I want you to be by my side for all of this," Kitty replied. "Everything. For good."

Kurt took her fingers and kissed them. "Always, _schatz,_ always."

Kitty touched her forehead to his. "Good."

(Click onward for the last chapter...)


	9. Top with Epilogue

Disclaimer: "Botan's cat face. Quite distracting."

(An: Here 'tis, the last chapter... so you guys won't lynch me for leaving out the "coupleness.")

LATER THAT NIGHT...

Wanda knocked on John's door, biting her lower lip.

John blinked at her. "Um... do you need something?"

"No," she responded instantly, looking annoyed. "Well... yes, actually." She stared at him.

John shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "What?"

Wanda stomped her foot, looking downright pissed now. "Don't you get it? I want **you**, John! I would've tackled you, dragged you up to the back room of the inn, and pretended I worked it if I didn't already have enough people talking about me!"

John's jaw dropped.

"I've been dropping hints as best I know how, but you just don't seem to be picking it up, and- and- agh!" She grabbed him and pressed her lips to his. She broke off and continued, John gaping at her. "It's more than that now, anyway, and I **know** you feel the same way and you haven't heard a word I just said because you're still processing that, right?"

John nodded.

"Oh, whatever, just kiss me, stupid!"

John stared at her for a moment longer, then pulled her in and shut the door behind her.

THE NEXT DAY...

John opened one eye. He squinted out towards the balcony. By his guess, it was already late morning. He realized his bed had another occupant, and paused, the events of last night coming back. He exhaled sharply, falling back down on the bed.

There was a thump as Remy appeared on the balcony. He smirked slightly, eyeing John and looking amused. "I knew it."

"Shut up," John muttered, turning red.

"You missed the coronation," Remy announced, leaning on the wall. "But, then again, I suppose you had a good reason for staying in bed."

Wanda rolled over to face him. Remy dodged the shot of blue sparks from her fingers. "Go **away**," she mumbled.

Remy held up his hands. "All right, all right, I'm going, I'm going..." He tipped them a cheeky two-fingered salute and jumped over the balcony, running off.

"Jerk," Wanda muttered. She yawned. "I'm tired."

"So go back to sleep," John replied, putting his arms around her. 

&&&

Remy vaulted over another balcony, not to annoy a friend this time but rather to check on his _chere_.

Rogue was standing at the window. She didn't turn when he came in. He walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist.She still didn't move.

Remy pressed his face into her hair.

"Are we leaving soon?"

"_Oui_... you coming with?"

"Of course," Rogue murmured. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go... or that I'd want to go..."

Remy slipped his fingers through hers. "You know," he whispered into her ear, "wolves mate for life."

"I don't know about elves, but I guess I would, too."

Remy smiled, and so did she.

THAT NIGHT...

The newly crowned queen watched as four people walked away from the castle, leading two horses. One winked at her as he slipped an arm around an elf, who pulled up her hood. The second man waved.

Kitty sighed, propping her chin on her fist. There was a bamf and Kurt appeared. He waved back. "I wonder what they'll do now," Kitty murmured.

"Probably go have all the fun without us," Kurt replied.

"You mean go out, get in trouble, and then call up their connection to me so they don't get in real trouble?"

"Well... yeah... if you **have** to put it that way..."

Kitty laughed. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing them again soon... let's just hope it's not in the jail..."

"But then they **would** be having all the fun without us!"

Kitty rolled her eyes this time. "Oh, I get the feeling life'll be plenty interesting here at the castle..."

Kurt kissed her nose. "With you around, _Katzchen,_ I don't doubt it."

(And that is that. No, no sequel, this is a oneshot story. Review, si vous plait.)


End file.
